Happy New Year!
by Tess 4 5
Summary: A beneficial New Year's Eve party could be very bad and not every dream comes true. Well, that is to say sometimes yes, but not exactly the way you've dreamt of it.
1. New Year's Eve

Author's note: I don't own any of the characters nor the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries – they belong to Elizabeth George and the BBC.

Review and comment, but please keep in mind that I'm no native speaker. If I did something terribly wrong (rating, grammar, spelling...), please let me know. Thanks!

This is how badly a New Year's Eve party could be and that not every dream comes true. Well, that is to say sometimes yes, but not exactly the way you've dreamt of it.

And please remember to drink responsibly. Cheers!

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Barbara didn't know what to wear for that bloody New Year's Eve Party the Met was giving this year for some beneficial tralala she already forgot. "Casual evening dress" is what they wrote on the invitation. _Gods, they're so funny._ Barbara thought with eyes rolling. So she decided to wear that dark suit she usually put on for court and pimped it up with her red satin blouse and the new red pumps she brought with Winston after a really funny afternoon with too much wine.

_That will do._ she thought in front of her mirror. She wouldn't have accepted the invitation if it wasn't for Winston who is still grieving with the fact that his girlfriend had dumped him. He needed some distraction.

Winston came round to pick her up at about half past 7 pm.

"Hello, baby!" he whistled appreciatively and took a step backwards to eye her up. Broadly grinning he then gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Everybody will be jelly!"

"Oh, shut up, Winnie!" Barbara gave him a slap on the shoulder and went to the cab.

* * *

The party really was some kind of disaster in Barbara's opinion. It started with a speech by the Commissioner, followed by some – too much, like Barbara stated to Winston – words by some officials. Then most guests were clutching their drinks for half a complimentary hour before rushing to the buffet. The music was awful. Barbara and Winston made it funny for themselves by bitching about all and everyone in sight and keeping a polite smile on their faces. From time to time they had to stop that when one of their colleagues came by for a little chat. Around nine o'clock the music changed to something more danceable. Winston went nervous and started to look around the place and the drink in his hand. Finally he took a deep breath.

"May I have the pleasure of this dance?" Barbara turned around startled.

"Sir?! I expected you to be in Cornwall..."

Lynley grinned wryly. "I was fed up with all the party there. But this..." he made a gesture pointing to the hall. "...is nothing different. Except you…" he looked her up and down and stopped talking for two or three breaths. "…you look gorgeous."

Barbara could tell by his breath that he wasn't distracted by some fellow sufferer like she was by Winston so obviously Lynley had some glasses too much of whatever that colourful drink was he held in his hands.

"So?" Lynley gave Barbara an inviting glance.

"So? So what?"

"May I have the pleasure of this dance?" Lynley asked again.

"Oh, no, I don't dance."

"I don't care, I'll lead anyway." Lynley grinned, took her hand and pulled her to the dancefloor.

"Oh, you bloody..." Barbara cursed. "Excuse me for a while, Winnie." she said over her shoulder.

They danced quite good together. Even if he was a little bit tipsy and she had the last dance about twenty years ago. For Barbara's liking he held her a little too close. It wasn't that she didn't enjoyed it but it made her so 'goosepimply' to feel his body close to her. She couldn't bear it very long and only danced twice with Lynley. Then she looked out for Winnie and fled.

"Did you enjoy it?" he asked her suggestively and grinned his fruitiest grin ever.

"You shut up, Winnie. Give me your drink, I need it." Barbara's ears reddened which made Winston laugh out loud.

"You could have warned me of his presence."

"Oh, that would have taken the fun out of it."

Barbara's anger was soon forgotten and they went on bantering lightheartedly.

* * *

At half past ten Winnie excused himself into the arms of DC Ginny Donaldson and Barbara started to hop from colleague to colleague, exchanging some polite smalltalk with each, but most of all preventing herself to come too close to Lynley again. But that didn't work for the whole evening. At about twenty minutes to midnight he stood behind her again.

_Oh bloody hell!_ Barbara thought. _He definitely had too much drinks now._ It wasn't that she was totally sober but Lynley was really drunk. Despite that he kept his good manners and didn't shout or was rude. He even didn't weaved too much. It was just a bit slurring and his breathing if you came too close. And he was searching her closeness.

She could avert the disaster of dancing with him again. At one minute before the New Year he put a glass of champagne in her hand and grinned.

"So I finally have the pleasure to start this new year with you, Barbara."

"You're drunk, Sir. I thought you were over with that." she really hadn't seen him drinking that much after he ended his dark time after Helen's death.

"Aaaah, who cares?"

The music stopped, the speakers crackled.

"Ladies and gentlemen, be prepared, raise your glasses, and don't be scared when the lights go out! The Countdown starts... now!"

"...ten ...nine"

Winston raised his glass across the dancefloor and pulled DC Donaldson to his side.

" ...six ...five"

Lynley came close to her side and leant his shoulder against hers.

" ...three ...two"

Barbara's heart skipped a beat.

"...one! Happy New Year everybody!"

The lights went out and Barbara felt some strong arms around her waist and some very spirited lips on her mouth. She nearly dropped her glass in shock.

The kiss lasted a short while. After that second of shock she responded and opened her mouth. For the flash of a moment the tips of their tongues touched. Then he broke contact and laughed triumphantly. "Ha!" Then the lights went on again and the band was playing Auld Land Syne.

Totally fuzzy Barbara sang like everybody did. Thomas had one arm around her shoulder and was rather bawling than singing it. Nobody really cared but they must have been looking like some boozers on the street.

"I'm getting us some new drinks." Thomas said after the song and left.

Barbara felt great relief when Winston showed up at her side.

"Happy New Year, Barb!" they embraced. "Our dear Inspector is kind of boozy, huh?!" he grinned. "Shall I call you a cab? I can handle him for you."

Barbara left the party at about half past midday. She was so fed up with Lynley that she shed some tears at home. To kiss Lynley or even more really was something she had been dreaming of for a long time now but that amount of alcohol wasn't involved then. Barbara sighed, made herself a last cup of tea and went to bed. This evening was a total disaster.

* * *

The door bell rang furiously and finally made Barbara wake up. It was two o'clock something – right in the middle of the night.

"Who the fuck is out there?" she barked through the closed door.

"It's me. Let me in, I'm freezing."

_Oh bloody hell!_ Barbara cursed again. She opened the door.

Lynley stood there without his coat, just in his dinner jacket and with the bow tie loosened around his neck in the halfopened shirt. And he had a glass of champagne in his hand which he now raised.

"Happy New Year, Barb. I've got us a drink." he drowned that drink alone and went past her.

She could see from his heavy wobbling and his slurring that now he was really pissed. Swaying heavily Lynley put the glass on her coffee table with a loud clink. He also threw his bow tie there.

"What do you want at that time, Lynley? And give me one good reason for not throwing you out of my flat." Barbara bursted with anger.

"I'm not… I came here…" he plunked himself into her sofa. "…to say I'm not sorry for that."

Then with a sigh and grinning he let his head fall on the backrest.

"You what?!" Barbara couldn't believe it. "Get yourself out of here, Lynley, before I'm going to explode."

The answer was a silent snoring.

Barbara cursed once more for still being so patient but she threw a blanket over her sleeping DI and placed a bucket and a bottle of water next to him before she herself went to bed again. He'd get to pay for that tomorrow.

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Sorry, but I thought I had to make the Knight being human. With some uncertainty and the will to drown it in alcohol. Well, Barbara wasn't really pleased with that but it kind of worked for Lynley. But let's look forward to his _oh bloody hell_ bad, bad hangover tomorrow. I expect him to wake up something around half past one.


	2. Happy New Year

Ok, here is the next day. I've published it a little later than I thought but *blush* yesterday I didn't drink responsible at all and so today _I_ had one of the worst headaches of _my_ life. So I know what Lynley had to go through on the …let's say _morning_ after the party. Enjoy it.

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Around noon Barbara woke up with a bit of a headache. She slowly sat up and downed a bottle of water which made her feel very much better. Still a bit tired she put on her sweatpants and shuffled to the bathroom. Passing by her sofa she realized that the disastrous previous evening wasn't a dream at all. Thomas Lynley indeed had spent the night on her sofa. He was not yet awake and Barbara let him sleep. She could tell by his shoes standing beside the sofa and the halfemptied water bottle on the coffee table that he must have been up in the night.

Barbara longed for taking a shower. And a paracetamol and a coffee was all she needed for breakfast afterwards. The hot water running over her body felt incredibly refreshing. It washed away the bad night and most of her headache. She swore to herself that she never would attend such a party regardless of whatever Winston would say.

When Barbara came out of the bath Lynley was still asleep. He didn't snore anymore and silently laid there under the blanket facing the backrest. His shirt laid properly folded on top of the backrest. Barbara shook her head in disbelief, went into the kitchen and made herself a coffee. With the steaming mug in her hand and deep in thought she stood in the doorframe and watched him sleeping. For a while now she had been dreaming of kissing _her DI _and to be honest she even dreamt of doing more adult things to him. She sometimes also thought that he had begun to care for her more than just as a friend. Most times she had wiped away that idea as nonsense and absolutely out of the question if she wanted to go on working with him.

But now he had kissed her. _Well, and what a kiss that was._ Barbara thought grimly. This New Year's kiss was anything but romantic and first and foremost driven by alcohol. But he kissed her indeed and she responded and even if it was a short and alcoholic kiss, it still was a kiss.

"Nah!" Barbara tried to shake off that thought again.

This was waking Lynley and he slowly and laboriously sat up. Barbara had to hide her mischievous grin behind her mug and she came across that he looked absolutely cute with his stubble, his tousled hair and the confused look in his eyes. He still wears a T-shirt and his trousers and both were as crumpled as his face was.

"Oh, blimey!" he cursed and raked his fingers through his hair. Only then he realized that he was observed by Barbara.

"Good morning, Sir!" she greeted him cheerful.

"…morn'" he mumbles. He wasn't cheerful at all. "I've got the worst headache of my life." he whispered weakly.

"No surprise, Sir. Want some coffee?"

When Lynley shook his head, he moaned in pain and cursed again.

"I'll make you some tea. Meanwhile you can refresh yourself in the bathroom, Sir. The paracetamols lay on the board. There's also a new toothbrush if you want to get rid of that awful taste of boozing." Still grinning Barbara went into the kitchen. She was just removing the teabag from his mug when he showed up behind her, stating that he feels a little bit more revived. He still looks weary and his hair was dump. He was drying it with a towel because obviously he had put not only his face but his whole head under the cold water tap. Barbara gave him the mug.

"Here's your tea, Sir."

"Oh, can you please stop calling me Sir, Barbara?!" Thomas said with eyes rolling. He went back to the sofa and plunked down again.

"Now, how did I come here?" Thomas asked with a painful expression on his face. He must have had a blackout.

"You forgot?" Barbara asked. "Well, you dared to wake me up at something past two, plunked yourself on the sofa like you did just now and immediately fell asleep. The way from that bloody party to me you presumably did by taxi."

"And I did nothing else? Did I say something I have to apologize for?" Thomas asked very much concerned.

"You have to apologize for the appearance at my door, Sir, even if…" she interrupted herself. She wanted to tell him what he said but couldn't. It would be better if it all would be forgotten.

"Even if what?"

"Nothing, Sir. If you forgot it then I forget it, too." Barbara turned to enter the kitchen again, going to make herself another cup of coffee but firstly fleeing from that conversation. In sober state some talks weren't easy anymore.

Thomas stayed sitting on the sofa rethinking the previous evening. He remembered dimly that after coming back with two drinks he met Winston who told him that Barbara had already left the party. And after that he had decided to get completely drunk. Bad decision!

When Barbara came back into the living room he stared at the coffee table. Then he said "I'm sorry."

_Tonight he said he wasn't._ Barbara thought with a deep breath. She nodded.

Then Thomas looked up with a slight amazement. He had just recalled why he got himself poisoned.

"You've kissed me!"

"No, it was you who's kissed me. You know, that's what people do at New Year." Barbara seated herself in the armchair and turned on the TV. She tried to play the whole thing down and to dissemble her feelings. Again Thomas' eyes burnt a hole in the coffee table. Somehow his mind still was slow-moving. He desperately tried to reconstruct the evening. Then a broad grin appeared on his face.

"You know, it's that thing with your tongue that tells me that it wasn't at all _what people do_."

Barbara didn't dare to avert her eyes from the TV screen. She blushed anyway.

"You know, and how you leant into me responding to my kiss." he continued.

Barbara suddenly had a lump in her throat. She harrumphed. "I didn't." she denied.

"Yes, you did. And by the way I really am not sorry for that kiss. Which is what I told you when I appeared at your door." In sudden knowledge Thomas' face lit up. Contentedly he sipped at his tea and watched the documentary of whatever on the TV screen.

His voice was husky when he eventually asked "Can we repeat that?"

Barbara had to harrumph again before she was able to answer. Cynically she said that she just had a half emptied bottle of Whisky and therefore he had no chance to get drunk too soon.

"Oh bollocks!" Thomas grumbled. "You know what I mean."

Barbara still had her eyes on the TV screen but she hardly saw what was going on there. Her heart raced and she clutched her fingers so Thomas would not see them trembling.

"Come over here." he ordered gently. "I want you to sit beside me. You can go on pretending that you watch this whatever it is on the telly but please do it here."

Barbara blushed even more but smiled shyly and stood up. Invitingly Thomas held his arm open and she cuddled at his side. She pulled her legs up on the sofa and actually went on pretending to watch TV. His arm around her shoulder felt strong and she could smell him intensely. There was a little bit left of his aftershave and a lot of Thomas Lynley. It was the scent that always made her flustered.

For a while both stared at the screen. Then Thomas whispered low that they could stop that pretence.

"Kiss me again." he breathed but Barbara didn't react. In fact she was slightly scared of what would follow. So he put his finger under her chin and turned her face to him.

"Kiss me again." he repeated and lowered his face upon hers. She closed her eyes. He stopped a millimeter away from her lips. She just could feel his breath and she raised her face. Their lips were touching gently. It was not a long kiss and soon they parted but both smiled at each other. Thomas stroke her cheek with his fingertips.

"Can we repeat that?" he asked again. "You know, that thing with your tongue. What you did at midnight." Thomas grinned a bit cheeky. Barbara beamed.

He then pulled her in his arms and Barbara clutched his T-shirt. The following kiss was definitely deeper and longer and above all more passionate. It wasn't only the tips of their tongues that touched. Finally they had to start breathing again and ended the kiss. It left them both totally out of breath.

"Oh, hell!" Barbara whispered. She still couldn't believe what was happening there.

Thomas was grinning very pleased and turned to watch the screen again.

"Oh, hell, yes." he said. "And I could acquire a liking for that."

He placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"And by the way – Happy New Year!"

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Well, it wasn't easy to keep this T-rated because my mind always drifts away when I make those two get together…


End file.
